It goes without saying that every company director and owner wants their business to be a success, but what makes one company more successful than the next? To borrow an analogy from nature: your business is like an ant colony. Whether it has 10 or 100 workers, they all work together to make it a success. Each ant has a job and a purpose. Without them, the ‘colony’ will not grow and if just one worker falls behind, there could be damaging consequences. Although there is at least one or more ‘queens’ (directors), it is the industrious labour of the worker ants that make the colony thrive.
Therefore, it is essential that you view the members of your staff as fundamental to the success of your business. They are its lifeline to delivering excellent customer care and high quality products or services – without them, it cannot run smoothly. If a business cannot run it cannot make any money. You get the picture!
So as you can see, staff recruitment is a very critical stage. It affects staff retention rates, turnover and according to a CIPD survey, 80% of directors polled cite recruitment as an organisation’s main objective of their resourcing activities.
Recruitment is fundamental to achieve strategic goals and gain future skills, and 99% of those surveyed said that the quality of candidates is important for assessing a professional agency’s performance.
But can it really make or break the business?
In layman’s terms: yes. The right staff can propel your business to the next level and likewise, drag it down into the dumps. You can have the very best technology, resources and premises but if you don’t have the right people you’ll struggle to succeed.
Your workers’ performance is vital to the growth of your company, but note that hiring the best doesn’t just stop there. You need to provide on-going support, even after the initial recruitment stage, to ensure that a high level of ethos remains.
Setting your priorities:
Obviously the type of people you want to recruit will differ depending on your type of business. A standard face-to-face interview may work for you, but not be sufficient for another firm. What’s key is that the candidate has the right attitude. A new recruit can tarnish their bad behaviour onto your existing staff and similarly, existing employees can develop a culture that is not positive or inviting.
According to Employment-Studies.co.uk, 45% of employers prioritise good motivation and attitude over everything else when recruiting. Qualifications are important but only 10% say that this is a main attribute being sought.
Valuing the cost of recruitment:
Many employers deem recruitment too costly and time-consuming. A study by the British Chambers of Commerce and Maximus UK revealed that 43% of businesses estimate the cost of hiring a new employee to be more than £2,000.
Whether or not this figure is true is debatable but essentially it will cost you slightly more to acquire the very best. This is a small upfront fee when hiring an agency, but a great long-term investment.
Make sure you get it right. A poor recruitment now will prove expensive in the future. Time is money and you may miss your chance of securing the perfect candidate who will be lost to a competitor. This is where a good number of insolvent businesses can trace their distress back to. With an imperfect team you get an imperfect business.
8 top tips for employing the very best:
-
Make sure the job description accurately reflects the role
-
Be clear on the skills required
-
Use a structured interview and assessment process
-
Combine an interview with a skills based test
-
Involve other employees in the recruitment process
-
What is your UEP (Unique Employment Proposition)?
-
Don’t advertise for help; instead tell them why they want to apply
-
Try to promote internally first; someone may have untapped skills waiting to be developed
As a final note, some companies just don’t have the full-time staff to do their own recruitment so they find it necessary to hire a recruitment agency. This is all well and good, but it is vital to assess the qualifications and experience of the recruitment company.
Whilst it is important to hire the very best staff to boost productivity and morale within your company, it is even more important to find an agency that is able to find the staff you are looking for. Of course there is a fee involved in employing professional recruiters, but as the old adage goes, you get what you pay for.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and recruit the top talent in your field of work. Build up an efficient ant colony and in the famous words of Buzz Lightyear, ‘To Infinity and beyond!’
Author: This article was provided by Keith Tully, managing director of realbusinessrescue.co.uk. With a team of experts highly skilled in business recovery, it is their goal to keep companies in the UK afloat throughout trying economic times. For a free and immediate assessment, contact the team today.
